Hey guys I just partitioned my drive and installed Ubuntu 6.10. I'm running windows xp pro tablet edition 2005 as well. I do have a gateway tablet pc. I only have one hard drive and it is 80gb.

The problem is, how do I remove ubunto? I try to put in my recovery cd from gateway and then boot the recovery console, but after I press R, nothing happens. I see a blinking underscore. If I try to type any commands, nothing happens. If I press F, then it asks if I want to format and install a new OS. That is not what I want to do. I just need to remove Grub so that I can safely delete the linux partition and have my HD back to normal.

Last time all I did was delete the linux partition but grub got left over and I could not boot at all. I had to reinstall linux again to get it to boot. It is dual booting every time I turn the pc on and it asks me what to load.

Is there an easier way to remove grub since my recovery console does not work??

Hmm. I contacted gateway and they say the recovery console wont work if other operating systems are installed. Im gona try the other option on there, but it seems more complicated. Is there anyway to do this through linux? I mean just fixing the mbr?

jabfinger

04-10-2007 08:15 PM

I think what happened the last time you removed the linux partition is, you removed the grub configuration file along with linux therefore grub did not know what to do in order to boot your system. This will happen again if you remove your linux partition.

It sounds like you need reinstall the windows boot loader before you delete linux.

Can you run the recovery console and use the command fixmbr? That,I think, should rewrite the master boot record.

vashsna

04-10-2007 08:18 PM

one idea is to use some qparted or partition magic type program to reformat the linux off your hard drive, so you need up with some unallowcated space, then just repartition it for use with windows. This may or may not be the way to go, but the i see it there's no reason why it wouldn't work.

Selayan

04-10-2007 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vashsna

one idea is to use some qparted or partition magic type program to reformat the linux off your hard drive, so you need up with some unallowcated space, then just repartition it for use with windows. This may or may not be the way to go, but the i see it there's no reason why it wouldn't work.

Ok, so I grabbed my gateway recovery disc, its not an xp cd, just 2 recovery discs. I put it in and then I installed the recovery console. I then took out the cd and rebooted. And I waited for grub to load, and I pressed xp pro and then I hit F8. I then chose diagnostic removal tool or something like that and then chose Recovery console. It began to load the console and then I got an error 14. Something relating to bios and endint with /biosinfo. I tried to get this error again to see what it was so I could type it here, but it did not let me a second time, it just booted to safe mode.

So you are saying just use partition magic and format my linux partitions? Will that get rid of grub? Last time I just deleted the partitions and made it part of my C drive again as it was before I installed Linux, and when I rebooted, grub got left over. IF I format the partitions, that should help it get rid of it?

It seems that I can not get the recovery console to work at all! All I have left is a windows xp home cd and its SP1 so when I try to install recovery console, it says its a different version of windows and i dont wana mess wit that. What else to do?

michaelk

04-10-2007 09:00 PM

Deleting linux partitions will not remove the boot loader from the Master Boot Record (MBR) which is why you see the grub boot prompt. qparted or partition magic will not restore the MBR.

Most recovery disks are designed just to restore the computer back to its default "As Sold" state and do not include any repair tools. I do not know what tools are on the Gateway recovery CDs. There are several MBR repair tools besides the XP recovery CD fixmbr or W98 fdisk /mbr but I have not personally used them.

Well if grub was left over, i see no reason why you couldn't get rib of it, but i'm no expert. Grub's confuration file could be in /boot/grub/grub.conf or /boot/grub/menu.lst depends on your linux version.
You could try getting a update for bios, which in effect reinstalling it, but that's a last option.
When grub was left over did you still have the option of going into windows?

vashsna

04-10-2007 09:18 PM

nvm looks like some expert's showed up..although it's been enlightening.

Selayan

04-10-2007 09:35 PM

Matir, how would I use the mbr fix in that one site that you mentioned. After I download the file, it will not run in xp or windows. I do not have a floppy disk drive either. Linux works fine and so does windows. I just want to know how I would completely uninstall Linux incase I give this computer to my dad or other family member. I do not have a way of going into recovery console and I was wondering how that Mbrfix tool works?

Matir

04-10-2007 09:45 PM

I'm hardly an expert... at least, not at removing Linux. :)

What happens when you try to run it? It seems it needs to be run from the Windows command prompt as they recommend:

Code:

# Run MbrFix to see the current list of partitions: mbrfix /drive 0 listpartitions
# Run MbrFix in the following way: mbrfix /drive 0 fixmbr
# If you have more than 1 physicial hard disk (hard drive), you have to use proper number for your disk. E.g. change 0 to sdifferent number (1, 2 etc.)